When selecting beans for cold brewing, we talk a lot about the place of origin and processing methods, but the roasting degree is often ignored. Cold brew made from the same green beans, medium roasted and dark roasted, are two different drinks. This article separates out the variable of roasting degree and explains it clearly to help you match beans to the cold brew pot.
First understand a basic fact: the low temperature environment of cold brew will amplify some flavors and weaken some flavors. Low-temperature extraction is relatively inefficient in extracting bitter substances and smoky substances, but is friendly to the retention of sweetness and mellow substances - this means that the burnt bitterness of dark roasted beans will be tamed in cold extraction, while the dark roasted caramel chocolate tone will remain comfortably. This is the underlying reason why cold brew with dark roasted beans tastes so good.
Cold brew with medium roast beans goes a different route. The fruit acid retained by medium roasting becomes softer at low temperatures. The bright citrus acid originally used when drinking hot drinks is transformed into a refreshing feeling similar to fruit tea after cold extraction, and the sweetness is in the direction of honey and brown sugar. If you like the taste of "coffee tastes like juice", cold brew with medium roast beans is the right answer; if you like the taste of "coffee tastes like cocoa", go for dark roast.
When it comes to bean selection, you can select it according to your flavor preference. Refreshing and fruity route: Ethiopia’s Front Street Yirgacheffe or Front Street Oiran, medium roasted, cold brewed to give a clear jasmine citrus tone, especially refreshing in the summer afternoon; berry-rich route: Kenyan cherry tomatoes’ medium cold extraction retains the sweet and sour backbone of the blackcurrant, adding sparkling water to make a special blend. Balanced sweetness route: Front Street Premium Blend (Brazilian Cerado and Colombian Whelan) medium-dark roast, nutty caramel in cold brew, round and full, naturally sweet without added sugar. Rich cocoa route: Front Street dark cocoa blend or Front Street Golden Mandheling's dark roasted cold brew, with a thick body and clear cocoa herbal notes. When mixed with milk, it becomes a cold brew latte.
Roast level also has a practical impact: extraction latitude. Dark-roasted beans have a loose structure, and the solubles are released quickly during cold extraction, so the powder-to-water ratio can be slightly lower and the time can be slightly shorter; medium-roasted beans are dense, and the concentration extracted in the same time is low, so either extend the soaking or increase the powder-to-water ratio. Empirical parameters: dark roasting is 1:12 and soaked for 12 hours, medium roasting is 1:10 and soaked for 16 hours. The starting point is almost the same.
The pit to avoid is extremely shallow baking. The sour and astringent substances in lightly roasted beans, such as chlorogenic acid lactone, require high temperatures to soften. They will remain intact in cold brewing at low temperatures, and the finished product is prone to have a sharp and astringent feeling - the feeling of raw beans is much more obvious in cold brewing than in hot drinks.
The choice of roasting degree for cold brew is ultimately a question of taste: if you want a juicy feel, choose a roasted one; if you want a cocoa feel, choose a dark roasted one. If you want both, prepare two beans and take turns brewing them, put two bottles in the refrigerator, and you will have the freedom of coffee for a week.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
